'War On Terror' by the numbers: What the response to 9/11 attack has cost so far

The National Today

'War On Terror' by the numbers: What the response to 9/11 attack has cost so far

A closer look at the day's most notable stories with The National's Jonathon Gatehouse: 'War On Terror' sparked by 9/11 attack has cost tens of thousands of lives, trillions of dollars; how Humboldt Broncos bus crash survivor is adapting to his new life; India on track to surpass China's population

Newsletter: A closer look at the day's most notable stories

The Tribute in Light memorial to the victims of New York's fallen Twin Towers is seen in the Manhattan skyline from Brooklyn Bridge Park on Sept. 10, 2016. (Mark Kauzlarich/Reuters)

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TODAY:

The 9/11 attacks lasted 102 minutes, while the 'War On Terror' that President George W. Bush launched in response has been going on for 6,183 days — 11 years longer than WWII.

Ryan Straschnitzki, paralyzed from the mid-chest down in the Humboldt Broncos hockey team bus crash, is working hard to build up his body and regain independence.

India is on track to soon overtake China as the world's most populous nation.

17 years on

It has been 17 years since two hijacked passenger aircraft cut across a brilliant Manhattan morning sky and slammed into the Twin Towers.

The first, American Airlines Flight 11, plunged into the north tower at 8:46 a.m.

The second, United Airlines Flight 175, struck the south tower 17 minutes later as confused office workers, firefighters and police struggled to figure out what was going on.

Firemen work around the World Trade Center after both towers collapsed in New York on Sept. 11, 2001. (Peter Morgan/Reuters)A half-hour after that, another commandeered jet — American Airlines Flight 77 — crashed into the side of the Pentagon, across the Potomac from Washington, D.C.

By the time United Airlines Flight 93 nose-dived into a field outside Shanksville, Pa., the south tower of the World Trade Center had already collapsed. The north tower followed at 10:28 a.m. eastern.

In all, 2,977 people, including 26 Canadians, fell victim to the deadliest act of aggression on American soil since Pearl Harbour.

U.S. President George W. Bush speaks to rescue workers, firefighters and police officers from the rubble of Ground Zero on Sept. 14, 2001, in New York City. (Eric Draper/Getty Images)A recent estimate of the cost of America's wars since 2001 — some directly related to 9/11, others aligned to broader goals — puts the price of military interventions in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, plus the increased security at home, at $5.6 trillion US as of the end of this month.

In Afghanistan, where the fighting started and hasn't stopped, 3,557 NATO coalition soldiers have been killed since 2001, including 158 Canadians.

U.S. Army soldiers from the 2nd Platoon, B battery 2-8 field artillery, fire a howitzer at Seprwan Ghar forward fire base in Panjwai district, southern Afghanistan, on June 12, 2011. (Baz Ratner/Reuters)It's impossible to say how many Taliban or al-Qaeda fighters have been killed.

An Afghan boy cries during a funeral of members of his family in Logar province on March 27, 2013. (Reuters)In Afghanistan, the numbers are harder to come by. A 2016 report estimated that almost 31,500 civilians had died inside the country since 2001, and a further 22,000 had been killed in neighbouring Pakistan.

The UN, which has been tracking deaths in Afghanistan since 2007, issued its latest tally in July, finding that 1,692 civilians had been killed through the first six months of 2018, a record high.

Ryan's story

When the Humboldt Broncos team bus was hit by a tractor-trailer on April 6 near Tisdale, Sask., 16 people were killed and 13 injured. Ryan Straschnitzki, one of the players, was paralyzed from the mid-chest down. CBC's Susan Ormiston has kept in touch with the family, and has been following Ryan's recovery.

Paralyzed from the waist down, even something as simple as putting on shoes poses unique challenges for Ryan Straschnitzki, but he's determined to regain as much independence as he can. 'Just relying on myself to do things instead of asking people to do them for me, it feels good.' (Susan Ormiston/CBC)Just 48 hours after the crash, during the worst moments of their lives, the Straschnitzki family let us in, sharing the news that Ryan, their first born son, was paralyzed.

Then for the next four months they graciously welcomed us as our team turned up here and there to record the family's ups and downs, as Ryan struggled to move again.

Sometimes, covering an intense story like the Humboldt Broncos, you get tightly connected to the characters. Ryan's story is one of those times.

This fall, as his hockey buddies go back onto the ice or off to school, Ryan is at the gym working out, strengthening his upper body so he can manipulate his lifeless legs and regain some independence. It's impressive.

Straschnitzki during a rehab session. 'He never gives up,' says his physiotherapist Christin Krey, right. (Susan Ormiston/CBC)Ryan attributes much of his steady recovery to "a good attitude."

"There's so much to work for," he told me recently. "Keep a positive attitude. I know it sounds cliche and old, but it'll take you a long way. I mean, it's only been five months and look where I am now — and that's all thanks to my attitude and the people around me."

Watching him from April to now teaches us so much about ability, rather than disability.

WATCH: Susan Ormiston's story about Ryan Straschnitzki's recovery tonight on The National on CBC Television and streamed online

The gap between the populations of the world's two biggest states is currently around 35 million people, and demographers estimate that it will be narrowed to zero within three to five years.

By 2030, India's predicted population will be eight per cent higher than China's, or 1.532 billion people versus 1.419 billion. Then 25 per cent larger by 2050, as China's population starts to fall while India's continues to grow.

A man and woman hold babies on a sidewalk in Beijing. China's net population growth over the first eight months of this year was 4.1 million people. (Greg Baker/AFP/Getty Images)China did away with its longstanding one-child-per-family policy two years ago in an effort to reverse some worrying demographic trends.

Allowing couples to have a second child did cause a population spike, with 17.86 million babies born in China in 2016. But the effect seems to have been temporary, with 17.23 million children born last year, falling short of the state target of 18 million.

Yesterday, Beijing did away with three agencies that were charged with enforcing family planning, replacing them with a new department tasked with "establishing and perfecting a specialized system for supporting families."

The one-child policy is credited with slowing what would have been explosive population growth — reducing the predicted number of births by some 400 million while it was in effect. But its impact over 36 years has proven more pernicious, as the sex-ratio was thrown out of whack by families hoping for a son, selectively aborting female fetuses. According to its last census, China has 34 million more males than females.

A nurse takes care of newborn babies at the Lake Malaren International Postpartum Care Centre in Shanghai. (AFP/Getty Images)All of which is a sharp contrast to some news today about the world's continuing difficulties with feeding the 7.5 billion people who already inhabit the planet.

The World Food Program's annual report, released this morning, estimates that 821 million people — one in nine — are undernourished, facing chronic food shortages.

Today in history

At the height of the exodus from Vietnam, no one was sure just how many people had taken to the sea to flee the Communist government. But the number of people who perished as they tried to make their escape was said to be at least 75,000. An intrepid CBC crew travels to a series of remote and previously uninhabited Indonesian islands and finds them filled with refugees. At one stop they collect 4,000 letters to be mailed to family abroad. And they leave behind a CBC medical kit, doubling the available supplies for some 12,000 people crowded into the makeshift camp.

A CBC television crew flies to the remote Anambas Islands, to investigate reports of thousands of Vietnamese refugees living there. 6:12

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Corrections

When first published, this story said that in the 9/11 attacks on New York's twin towers, the south tower was struck first. The attackers first crashed a plane into the north tower, then another into the south tower.

Sep 11, 2018 8:22 PM ET

About the Author

Jonathon Gatehouse

Jonathon Gatehouse

Has covered news and politics at home and abroad, reporting from dozens of countries. He has also written extensively about sports, including seven Olympic Games and a best-selling book on the business of pro-hockey.